Is Wayne Rooney the first Scouser to join Man United?

Plus: when did England last play without a United player? When did they last start with three Spurs players? And were there really fewer than ten foreign players in England at the start of the Premiership? Email
knowledge@guardian.co.uk

"Will Wayne Rooney be the first Scouser to play for Manchester United?" asks Alex Freudmann.

The answer, quite simply, is no. But here's Richard Bryce to provide a little background information. "Young Wayne will be the eighth Scouser to pull on the red shirt of Manchester United," he begins. "The most illustrious predecessor was Croxteth-born Steve Coppell, who played almost 400 games for United between 1975 and 1983, and 42 for England.

"Before him, Liverpudlians Willie Anderson and Albert Kinsey played ten times and once respectively in the sixties and Ted Connor played 15 matches between 1909 and 1911, with Arthur Marshall notching up six in 1902-03."

There's more. "Neither is Rooney the first Scouser to sign from Everton. Alf Schofield joined Newton Heath (as United were then called) from Everton in 1900 and played 179 games until retiring in 1907. More recently, John Gidman racked up 115 games in United red after signing from the Toffees in 1981."

As several of you point out, Peter Davenport, who scored 26 goals for United between 1986 and 1988, may also be added to the list, though it depends whether you consider his birthplace Birkenhead to be a Scouse area.

ENGLAND WITHOUT A MAN UNITED PLAYER

"After Gary Neville was substituted against Poland, the England team contained no players from Manchester United," chuckles Martin Kinrade. "When was the last time this happened?"

It seemed like a really good question - but the answer is actually last month, against Ukraine, when Gary Neville and Alan Smith were both brought off at half-time. In fact, you don't even have to go back too far to find when an England team last started without a United player: October 10, 1999, in a 2-1 win over Belgium at Sunderland's Stadium Of Light. For the record, the starting line-up that day was: Seaman; Keown, Adams, Southgate; Dyer, Ince, Redknapp, Lampard, Guppy; Shearer, Phillips.

More significant, perhaps, is the last time England began a competitive match without a United player. The answer? That fateful night of June 26, 1996, when they lost to Germany in the Euro '96 semi-final.

Gary Neville was suspended, David Beckham was six weeks away from changing his life from the halfway line at Selhurst Park, Paul Scholes was a supersub, Teddy Sheringham was a Spurs player, and Phil Neville was sat with his brother on the England bench. The starting XI that night - as you all should know, of course - was: Seaman; Adams, Southgate, Pearce; McManaman, Platt, Ince, Gascoigne, Anderton; Sheringham, Shearer.

ENGLAND WITH THREE SPURS PLAYERS

"Before last week, when did Spurs last have three players in an England starting line-up?" asks Rob Crowley. "Was it really in the 1970s?"

Not quite - in fact it was May 1987, when Glenn Hoddle (about to leave for Monaco and Arsene Wenger), Chris Waddle and Steve Hodge lined up in a 0-0 draw away to Scotland.

A month earlier, however, England had five Tottenham players in the starting line-up away to Turkey: Hoddle, Waddle, Hodge, Clive Allen and Gary Mabbutt. It didn't stop them drawing 0-0, mind.

KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE

"I remember reading that when the Premiership began, there were only nine foreigners (not counting Irish, Welsh or Scottish) attached to Premiership clubs. Is this true? And if so, who were they?" asked Dara Dowd, back in February 2002.

You're so close Dara. The actual number of foreign (not UK and Ireland) players in their team's starting line-ups when the Premier League began in 1992-93 was ten - with two more coming on as substitutes.

"Robert Warzycha (Everton) came on as a substitute that weekend, as did Ronnie Rosenthal (Liverpool)," he adds. "So, the foreign legion on the opening weekend of the Premiership comprised of two Danes, two Dutchmen, two Swedes, a Pole, a Frenchman, a Ukrainian (who played internationally for Russia), a Norwegian, an Israeli and a Czech."